Defense: More Trouble for the F-20

There is never a good time for a jet fighter to crash, but the loss of an F-20 Tigershark jet in Labrador last week seemed particularly inopportune. The plane, en route to the Paris Air Show, had stopped over at Goose Bay airport; coming in from a practice flight, it suddenly nosed down during its landing approach, killing Pilot David Barnes, 40, as it plowed into the ground. The crash occurred the day before the annual stockholders meeting of Northrop Corp., which spent $800 million to develop the F-20 but has not been able to sell a single plane. The accident may also undermine efforts in Congress to force the Pentagon to acquire 300 Tigersharks for the Coast Guard and Air Force reserve squadrons. That would cover Northrop's development costs and perhaps convince other countries that they should buy the plane.

Northrop has been promoting the F-20 as a less expensive and more reliable alternative to General Dynamics' widely used F-16. The Tigershark's reputation had already suffered from a crash last October in South Korea, although investigators blamed the accident on pilot error. Last week's disaster left Northrop with only one prototype. Still, Chairman Thomas V. Jones vowed to renew his efforts to sell the aircraft.